STARDOM
STARDOM held its final shows in Kobe and Osaka before All-Star Grand Queendom as the show in Yokohama BUNTAI is just six days away. In the undercard of both shows, Saki Kashima got pinned, with Saya Kamitani pinned her in Kobe, while Saya Iida pinned her in Osaka. That led to both announcing a challenge for the High-Speed Championship, which brought out Fukigen Death as well, who wants a shot at the belt. A four-way match was decided for Yokohama BUNTAI with Saki Kashima putting her title on the line against all three.
Over the weekend, Mina Shirakawa & Natsuko Tora have built tension as part of the EXV & OEDo Tai feud, including a post-match attack from Tora on Mina. They agreed to face each other in a special singles match on the Yokohama BUNTAI show. With that, the two top names of EXV and OEDo Tai will face each other in singles matches with Mina facing Tora and Maika facing Momo Watanabe.
The Sunday show in Osaka featured a Goddess of Stardom Championship match, where Hiragi Kurumi & Risa Sera of Prominence challenged the newly crowned champions Crazy Star in the main event of the show. The match is a rematch from last year’s Goddess of Stardom Tag League, where on the opening night of the tournament, the two teams collided. Back then, the match ended in a time-limit draw, so both teams wanted to win this one. On top, Suzu Suzuki was a former member of Prominence before she left the stable to join STARDOM full-time, which added some personal history to this match.
The match itself was great, and the best Goddess of Stardom Tag Title match in a bit. Suzu & Seira are just an incredible team that have built up tremendous chemistry over the past 12 months, while Kurumi & Risa stay one of the more underrated teams in the scene as they constantly deliver when they are put in prominent roles. After nearly 20 minutes, Suzuki was able to pin Kurumi to retain the Goddess Titles for Crazy Star.
After the match, a four-way for the Goddess Titles for Yokohama BUNTAI was decided as Suzu Suzuki & Mei Seira will defend against Koguma & Hazuki, AZM & Miyu Amasaki, and Starlight Kid & Ruaka in a cool match-up. STARDOM has been trying out the multi-way tag matches in recent weeks, and they have been fun, so this could be a potential show stealer if laid out well.
At the press conference for the BUNTAI show, Konami made a surprise announcement that she will re-join STARDOM full-time from the April 27th show. It will mark the first time she’s been a full-time competitor since Stardom Dream Queendom in 2021, where she faced Giulia. Her return is a great addition to STARDOM and God’s Eye as they needed a new number #2 after MIRAI’s departure. Konami can be put perfectly in every spot that STARDOM needs her in and does her job well. On the BUNTAI show, she will team with Ami Sohrei & Syuri to face HANAKO, Waka Tsukiyama & Xena of EXV in a trios match.
Aja Kong is making her STARDOM debut on April 27th as she will team up with Kaoru Ito to face Tam Nakano & Natsupoi in a special tag team match on the show. Aja & Nakano have been teasing to face each other ever since the Spark Joshi show, where they teamed up to defeat Mina Shirakawa & Janai Kai during WrestleMania Weekend. Natsupoi then added that she also wants to face someone, who turned out to be Kaoru Ito, a close friend & mentor of Sareee. Ito is not the most mobile wrestler in 2024, while Aja needs a tag partner with more agility to work well these days. The match quality will be decided by how well Ito & Aja will make meltear bump for them.
Maika & Momo Watanabe decided to make their World of Stardom Championship match a two out of three falls match. The first fall is a normal singles match, the second fall is a hardcore match with Falls Count Anywhere rules applied, and if a third fall is needed, it will be held under Last Woman Standing rules. This will be the first Red Belt match in STARDOM to have a stipulation since Kagetsu defended her title against Hana Kimura in a No Disqualification match back in 2018.
The build-up to Maika vs. Momo Watanabe has been great and hyped up well for the championship match. It has the simple story that both want not only to destroy each other but also the Yokohama BUNTAI as they will be in the main event of the first show in BUNTAI after the venue re-opened. In the latest promo, Momo said she would murder Maika in the title match and take the Red Belt, while Maika flat-out said that STARDOM would die if Momo became Champion. They have done a great job building up the Ace vs. Top Heel dynamic, which will create a great atmosphere in the match.
Full All-Star Grand Queendom Card on April 27th in Yokohama BUNTAI
- Momo Kohgo vs. Ranna Yagami
- Aya Sakura & Yuna Mizumori vs. Rian & Lady C
- God’s Eye (Ami Sohrei, Syuri & Konami) vs. E-neXus-V (HANAKO, Waka Tsukiyama & Xena)
- Rina (c) vs. Sayaka Kurara for the Future of Stardom Championship
- Mina Shirakawa vs. Natsuko Tora
- Saki Kashima (c) vs. Saya Iida vs. Saya Kamitani vs. Fukigen Death for the High Speed Championship
- Suzu Suzuki & Mei Seira (c) vs. AZM & Miyu Amasaki vs. Koguma & Hazuki vs. Starlight Kid & Ruaka for the Goddess of Stardom Championship
- Tam Nakano & Natsupoi vs. Kaoru Ito & Aja Kong
- Saori Anou (c) vs. Hanan for the Wonder of Stardom Championship
- Mayu Iwatani (c) vs. Sareee for the IWGP Women’s Championship
- Maika (c) vs. Momo Watanabe for the World of Stardom Championship in a Two out of Three Falls Match
SEAdLINNNG
Arisa Nakajima made her return from an injury that she suffered during the Beyond of Sea Tag Title Tournament in January of this year. She teamed up together with Sareee & Tsukasa Fujimoto, who also returned in this match to face Hiroyo Matsumoto, Miyuki Takase, and Hanako Nakamori. The match was great, which should be no surprise with these talents in it. Just 22 minutes full of action with especially the Best Friends showing why they are so great in their return match. In the end, Arisa picked up the win by pinning Hiroyo Matsumoto.
Arisa Nakajima then grabbed a mic and announced she will be retiring at the SEAdLINNNG Korakuen Hall show on August 23rd due to the neck injury she suffered in January. Her final match will be a trios or tag team match, and one of the opponents will be Hiroyo Matsumoto, one of Arisa’s biggest career rivals.
If you are not familiar with the work of Arisa Nakajima, then I’d recommend a deep dive. She’s one of the greatest women’s wrestlers of this century and has countless fantastic matches, with some of her most famous ones being against Io Shirai, Kana, or Nanae Takahashi in a Hair vs. Hair Match.
